Focht Family Blog

We left Statesboro Friday morning, dropped Punch off at the vet’s office to board and drove to Ocala, FL. Once in Ocala we dropped mom’s trailer off at a dealer that R-Vision recommended for repairs. Unfortunately, they said they are about a month behind. They didn’t tell us this when we called to see if they could do the repairs. So… not sure when mom will have her own space again. Until then, she is stuck on our sofa.

After dropping the trailer we called to find out where hospice was and found out that my grandpa has not been moved yet because the bed they thought he was going to get was given to a more urgent patient. We visited with grandpa, Jo (his wife), and Chris (Jo’s daughter) for a while. Grandpa was not having a good night. He didn’t seem to know we were there and he is also battling a lung infection. My dad showed up and we talked for a little bit and we decided to both come back in the morning and see if grandpa was better. We drove to Walmart and stayed the night.

The next morning we arrived at about 8:30. Grandpa was awake. He was watching us and seemed to know we were there so I just talked to him about my family and showed him pictures of his great grandchildren. He tried to talk back but I couldn’t understand most of what he said and I am sure that frustrated him. His mind is perfectly fine, it is just his body that has failed. He used to travel the world speaking and Parkinson’s has robbed him of the ability to speak. Chris came in a little after 9:00 and she has an easier time understanding him because she has spent so much time with him. We sang some hymns with him and he sang along, even keeping tune. Then we got up to leave and I patted him on the shoulder and told him we were leaving. He opened his eyes, looked a bit startled and said clearly, “Hi Bonnie, How are you?”. He recognized me and knew who I was. He then said hello to my mom and my dad, shaking my dad’s hand. He seemed very happy to see us all although his moment of clarity did not last long. I am still glad that grandpa knows we were there.

As soon as a bed becomes available at hospice he will be moved there and they will remove his feeding tube. The doctors have told them that he will probably fall into a deep sleep after 2-3 days and never wake up. He is battling a lung infection and sores and his kidneys are already starting to shut down so I hope that he will live long enough to be moved to hospice and give him and his wife the peaceful ending they desire. Since I do not have most of my pictures with me, I copied a picture of my grandfather off of a website that sells some of his books. He was a pioneer in the field of Christian Psychology and Counseling.

Friday we got up early, packed everything up and checked out. We verified that we could park for free during the day and headed off to the ticket and transportation center. We followed the signs to park and then we were told we would have to go out and start all over again and park in the bus parking. Once we got to the bus lot, they said that we were supposed to park where we originally went. Thankfully the lady in charge of the bus lot let us park for the day since they would not be full that day. We started out the day at Epcot. Nathan wanted to go on Soaring, a ride that simulates you flying in a hanglider. We also went on Test Track, a high speed car ride, and I took Samantha on Mission Space which simulates you flying to Mars. Timmy isn’t quite tall enough for Mission Space so he had to sit that one out. I sat out of Soaring with Joshua since my mom loves the ride. Joshua and I bought some desserts and waited for them to get out. Here is a picture of Joshua at the table with chocolate on his nose. The scratch under his eye is from him falling while walking on the sidewalk the day before.

Once the rest of the family got off of the ride we headed to lunch and then took the monorail back to the ticket and transportation center where we took the BIG ferry over to the Magic Kingdom to go on a few rides the kids wanted to hit again. My last picture is of my mom and the kids on the ferry.

We left the park around 4:00 and started the drive home. We had to stop for dinner and for dog food since we had run out earlier in the week and we had to feed Misty scraps. There was major traffic in Jacksonville where they had shut down a section of the freeway. We made it to Savannah at 1:00 in the morning and by then we were both so tired we couldn’t make it the last hour to Statesboro so we crashed at the Home Depot parking lot. We got some breakfast at Chick-Fil-A first thing in the morning and headed back to Statesboro in time for our appointment with the hairstylist that is teaching me how to cut everyones hair. My mom and Josh are hard to cut and Josh has a spot where I went too high with the clippers now but Timmy and Nathan are pretty easy and she didn’t have to correct much on their haircuts.

I think this was one of our best trips to Disney. Josh is old enough now that he really enjoys it and was in awe the whole time. When we were leaving he acted like all of the employees had personally invited him there and he waved bye to each and every one. He also had to stop and talk to each employee on the way out after we returned the stroller to show them the stickers that someone had given him. I am looking forward to our next trip in March. I am going to try to plan our trip out a little more so I can get reservations at some of the restaurants that we enjoy. I also want to get reservations for Nathan and me to go on an off-road Segway tour of Fort Wilderness. I tried to get reservations on this trip but they were already fully booked.

We slept in on Thursday because of the after hours party that goes until midnight. Around lunchtime we decided to rent a pontoon boat from the marina for 30 minutes. The kids all have to wear life jackets. Adults just have to have them on board. Here is a picture of the boys in front of the pontoon and Nathan, Samantha and my mom in the back.

Timmy decided he wanted to be extra safe and he put grandma’s life jacket over his own.

After our 30 minutes were over we went back to the RV for a good lunch. It was really difficult to get reservations at any of the table service restaurants so I knew we wouldn’t be having anything good for dinner. We went over to the Magic Kingdom at about 2:00. Samantha had an appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbity Boutique to become a princess. This is what she wanted for her Christmas present from mom and dad. They took her in and she got to decide what princess she wanted to dress up as. I really liked the Jasmine costume but we figured Nathan wouldn’t like it because it shows the belly. She decided on Belle’s yellow dress. There was also a Christmas Belle dress. They took Samantha back to a dressing room and her dress, shoes, wand, and crown were waiting for her. After getting dressed you wait for your turn with a fairy godmother in training. We got a wonderful girl named Angela who had a lot in common with Samantha. She did Samantha’s hair, painted her nails and then put some makeup on her. The first picture is of Samantha after she had her hair and nails done and she was getting her makeup on. The second picture is of her big reveal moment when Samantha first sees herself after the makeover.

After we met up with Nathan and the boys again we attempted and failed to find a reservation at one of the restaurants, so we went to one of the quickie places and watched the fireworks while we ate. After dinner, the Christmas party was starting so we went to one of the holiday shows that was special for the event. Then we went on a couple of rides and started looking for hot chocolate and cookies. One of the perks of the event was free cookies, hot chocolate, apple juice and apple slices throughout the park. We had lots of cookies and juice by the time we left. At the first cookie stop they were having a dance party. Here is Samantha dancing with Josh.

After the kids danced for awhile we left so we could watch the Christmas parade. Samantha was sad and crying because Belle was wearing her Christmas dress and not the yellow dress like Samantha had on. She brightened up when she saw the Beast because he blew her a kiss. The Fairy Godmother also bopped her wand at Samantha so she was all smiles by the time the parade was over. Here is a picture of the Beast right after he blew the kiss and a picture of the toy soldiers. They were Nathan’s favorites. You heard them coming because of the huge blocks on their feet.

After the parade we went on a couple more rides and watched the special Christmas fireworks. Then we started walking towards the exit. Nathan was starting to worry about Misty and wanted to get back to walk her. The kids still wanted to see Santa so Nathan went ahead to the campground and mom and I took the kids to see Santa and managed to get them all back to the campground. Here is a picture of the kids with Santa. Samantha was a bit wet because she decided to sit in the front seat of the log at Splash Mountain. Josh was wet because he spilled juice down the front of his shirt.

Wednesday was our first day full day at Magic Kingdom. We tried to make the day more for Joshua because he can’t go on a lot of the rides at Animal Kingdom and MGM (he isn’t tall enough). We started out on the carousel.

Next we took Joshua to his first rollercoaster ride. There is one rollercoaster that is designed for the younger children. It is called the Barnstormer. Here is a picture of Joshua waiting in line and one of him riding on the rollercoaster with Nathan.

We didn’t stay for a late day because we were planning on being at Magic Kingdom the next day very late for the after hours Christmas party. We decided that this trip we were going to try to take about every kind of transportation that is available. We had been taking a boat from Fort Wilderness to the Magic Kingdom but there was a smaller open air boat that went to the Wilderness Lodge that Nathan had been wanting to take so when we left the Magic Kingdom we took the regular boat to the Wilderness Lodge.

From the Wilderness Lodge we waited for the smaller boat to come in and take us back to Fort Wilderness. Here is the boat docking and a picture of everyone in the back of the boat.

Once we got back to Fort Wilderness my mom decided that since we would not be going back out to a park that night that she wanted to go to the Hoop-Dee-Doo show. She bought herself a ticket and then found out that they were going to seat her at a table all by herself. Since I have always wanted to go to the show but didn’t want to buy tickets for the whole family because they wouldn’t eat the food that is served, Nathan said he would watch the kids if I wanted to sit with her. Mom bought me a ticket and we went out for the night. Here is a picture of mom sitting at our table for 6!

The show was very slap stick and funny. It had a bit of audience participation. Here is a picture of mom playing the washboard at the end.

Tuesday we went to MGM Studios. One of our first stops was to the Playhouse Disney show. It has characters from the kid’s cartoons. While waiting in line, Joshua had one of his 2-year old meltdowns. Nathan figured out a new way of holding him so he can’t get his way.

The kids all enjoyed the show. They got to get up and dance and sing along with the characters. Here is a picture of Nathan and the kids watching the show.

After Playhouse Disney we managed to get a same day reservation for one of the kid’s favorite restaurants. It is called the Sci-Fi Diner and they seat you in cars and make it look like you are at a drive-in movie theater. They show clips from old movies and cartoons while you eat. Next we went to see Nathan’s favorite show… Lights, Motors, Action. Here is Nathan getting his weight lifting in for the day.

We decided to stay until dusk because we wanted to see the Osbourne Family lights that are displayed for the holidays. It is over 5 million lights that have been donated by a family from Arkansas. Joshua was a little worn out while waiting for the lights to come on.

The lights were amazing when they came on. They danced to Christmas music and they had soap sud snow coming down on the street. It was beautiful. Here are a few of the pictures that came out okay. The first is actually a three tiered tree that had three different colors that lit up. The second was of angels flying and the third is a picture of the manger scene which I was surprised to see displayed at Disney.

After seeing the lights we left and took a bus to the Grand Floridian hotel. I had seen a show on Food Network about the gingerbread house they do every year and I wanted to see it since we were there. It was really cool to buy cookies out of a gingerbread house. Here is a picture of the kids by the house and a picture of the list of ingredients used to make it.